Looking for Jane

Sarah Borges soothingly narrates Marshall’s enthralling debut about motherhood and three Canadian women who meet serendipitously because of a misplaced letter. In 2017, Angela discovers a letter from 2010 inside a dresser at her Toronto thrift store. The contents lead her on a search for Nancy, the intended recipient, as well as the discovery of the Jane Network, a 1970s underground group providing abortions for women in need. Flashbacks follow Nancy in the late 1970s and 1980s when she stumbled upon a life-altering family secret and met Dr. Evelyn Taylor, a provider for the Jane Network. Evelyn lived at a home for unwed mothers in the early 1960s. There, young women were forced to give up their babies for adoption. Borges keeps each character’s voice grounded in her emotions as their story lines intertwine. She performs Angela, the youngest and most optimistic of the three, with a slightly raised voice. In contrast, Evelyn starts with middle inflections that become coarser with age and life.